Bittersweet Reunion
by lrhaboggle
Summary: Elizabeth and William are reunited after years of being alone and apart, but it's not all sunshine and rainbows. What happens when two very twisted and broken minds are put together again and then left to their own devices in one nightmarish pizzeria? (Second chapter has Elizabeth meet her brother Michael)
1. Bittersweet Reunion

"Daddy! Oh, there you are, Daddy! I've been looking everywhere for you! Ah, but I knew I'd find you here!" Scrap Baby moved her massive metal body down the tight steel air vents, dragging herself over to her father. Although he didn't look or sound anything like he used to when he was still alive, nor did she. She still recognized him at once. He was wearing that old Spring-Bonnie suit and even though it had been decayed with age, its original form was still recognizable enough for Scrap Baby to know that, after decades of searching, she'd finally found him.

"Elizabeth?" the man in the Spring-Bonnie suit was stunned to see a severely unstable form of his pride and joy dragging itself by one arm towards him through the steel passageway of the vents. The sight of such a broken down yet still very much alive robot would've frightened an ordinary man to death, but this man was far from ordinary. He was the ringleader, the creator, of these murderous animatronics, and even though he still had not forgiven them for taking away his precious little girl all those years ago, he could not just abandon his creations. It was why, so many decades after his death, he was still alive, returning again and again to this Fazbear chain. His devotion, his obsessions, with his evil creations forced him to return to this place every single time it opened up. The only thing that ever changed about him was his name and appearance. Although he had long since forgotten his human name and form, his current one was Scraptrap, in homage to how severely damaged his Spring Bonnie suit was after being burned up and practically drowned in his own blood and guts before being sentenced to roam the streets until he caught wind of this new Fazbear pizzeria. Just like clockwork, his intrigue brought him back one last time, and so here he was.

Scrap Baby knew of her father's crazy obsession with his own animatronics and used it to her advantage, having been roaming the streets just like Scraptrap up until just recently when this new pizzeria opened up. The moment she heard about it, though, she knew at once that it would be the place she would find her father. All those days and nights on the streets had yielded nothing, but this new pizzeria was a calling card and she knew already that her father would be the first to answer. Sure enough, her gamble over his obsession with his creations proved true and now they were together again, in a bittersweet reunion after decades of torment and torture.

"I can't believe it!" Scraptrap's low, raspy growl was filled with something akin to wonder as the two pinpricks of light that he called eyes scanned over the massive and dilapidated form of his daughter crawled over to him. It was clear that he never thought they would meet again, let alone like this, but at the same time, the longer he took in his daughter's new form, the prouder he became. This girl, Elizabeth, was certainly his daughter. Kind and sweet as she was, she had the same mean-streak he did, that same grim determination to succeed no matter who was hurt in the process. How else would a little girl have been able to resurrect herself and then spend decades upon decades trapped in a giant robot's body in an abandoned pizzeria? Elizabeth's grisly perseverance was just like her father's and it was what allowed her to so cunningly and ruthlessly set up an escape plan, even though it caused much grief to all involved, including herself.

"Are you proud of me, Daddy? Are you proud of what I have become?" Scrap Baby, or Elizabeth, asked. Her voice was much lower, softer and more monotonous than what it sounded like when she was still alive, but in the same way she had recognized her father's voice despite how different it sounded now, he was able to recognize hers just as easily. There was just some quality about Scrap Baby's voice that made it clear she was still Elizabeth, even if her human form was hidden under pounds upon pounds of rusted, dented metal and frayed wires.

"Yes, I am, sweetheart," Scraptrap growled with a genuine smile in his voice. "I am very proud of everything you have become. You are just like your father!" he promised. Even though Scrap Baby was physically unable to smile, half her face missing, he could tell that his words had sent a jolt of pleasure through her gigantic and metallic form.

"Oh, I knew I'd find you here, I just knew it!" Scrap Baby repeated happily, even though her voice was still very one-note. She dragged herself just a bit further down the vents until her body was touching Scraptrap's.

"Clever girl," Scraptrap murmured approvingly, reaching out a rusty hand to his daughter's sparking forearm. The live wires did not bother him. "Just like I would have deduced…" he continued to growl soft compliments while she basked in his praise.

"How I've missed you, Daddy! It's been so long!" she sighed, voice full of regret, sadness and relief.

"And I have missed you as well, darling," Scraptrap promised. This was only half a lie. Although it was evident Elizabeth had thought about her father far more than he'd thought about her, both of them had missed each other dearly in their decades of Hell and this bittersweet reunion was something both of them reveled in, despite its dark implications and morbid undertones.

"Will we be together forever now, Daddy?" Scrap Baby asked next, hopeful. She was very used to being abandoned, having lost all of her friends and family throughout the course of her long and miserable undead life. Even the other animatronics she used to work with had abandoned her, kicking her out of their combined form and leaving her to rot. That betrayal had hurt more than any controlled shock ever had. It was also what motivated Scrap Baby to become the monster she was. Once upon a time, she had only wanted her freedom and her life. But after being abandoned by the few friends she had, Scrap Baby gave up the will to be good and decided that the only person she could every really rely upon was her father. Even though her death was partly his fault, he was the only one to really care about her. Sure, there had been Michael, but Scrap Baby was no longer able to use him and he had since vanished since last they were "together". Scrap Baby became convinced that the only true and happy future left for her lay with her father, all she had to do was find him. And now she had.

"We'll be together forever, right?" Scrap Baby repeated, trying to reassure herself just as much as she was trying to ask Scraptrap.

"Yes, darling, of course we will," Scraptrap finally replied, a grim pleasure seeping into his aged voice. As twisted as he and his love for Elizabeth were, he still had a genuine fondness for his little girl and the idea of an eternity with her was paradise, no matter the context. "I say that now that you and I are together again, we start getting used to our time as a tag-team, eh?" the robotic bunny asked with raspy laugh.

"Of course, Daddy! There's nothing I want more!" Scrap Baby agreed cheerily, understanding exactly what her father was asking of her.

"Well then, be my guest," Scraptrap waved a rotting and bony hand, laced with wires, towards the end of the vent where a human worker sat, typing away at his computer. Scrap Baby's loose wires sparked in anticipation and she was able to squeeze past her father, crawling ever closer to the unwitting human. She was internally grinning. Now at last, her happiness was at hand.

" _Watch and listen, Daddy, and be full!_ " the young robot thought, then she sent a large metal claw through the vent's exit and into the office of the human worker. She could hear Scraptrap's low and evil laughter echo the vent behind her as the man in front of her screamed his life away.

 **AN: Here you go Lumax033! Hope it was as good as you thought it would be! And just to be clear, because I know this stuff is confusing, this is a minor AU where, like you suggested, Elizabeth and William become a tag-team against the player, but the player in this case is not necessarily the canon one in the games as evident by the fact that Elizabeth kills him. This was just meant to show them basically becoming a father-daughter murder duo and that couldn't happen unless they got to kill a worker, so here we go. Anyway, hope you liked it!**


	2. The End of the Story

**AN: Here you go, ZombiBlonglik, the Baby/Michael reunion fic. Hope it met your standards! Just as a foreword, even though this is a second chapter, this is not supposed to be a multi-chapter story. Think of it more as an anthology. You can see this chapter as a sequel to the first, or an AU of it where Baby talks to Michael instead of William.**

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth Afton!" Scrap Baby swiveled her head, scraping metal and a few loose sparks emitting from the motion. For a moment, her head balanced dangerously on her shoulders like it was about to come clean off. It wouldn't surprise her if it did, though, this body certainly wasn't anywhere near as nice as her old one. Granted, her old one had pretty much been a tomb, but at least it had been a functional one and not this rusty bucket of bolts. As Scrap Baby heard her old name being called, however, she ignored the pain such an arduous movement would cause and she tried her hardest to figure out who it was that had spoken. They knew her old name, the one she'd had when she was alive, so it must've been a family member. But who?

After a small bit of thought and a few more stray sparks, Scrap Baby remembered and felt quite silly for ever forgetting. It was her oldest brother, Michael Afton. The two hadn't spoken in years. But she could still remember the first time she'd ever seen him after her untimely death… He'd been much older then, a man, but it was still very clearly Michael, her big brother. He had come back to her failing restaurant and allowed himself to become her vessel of escape. After inhabiting his body for a good while, though, she released him. She let him go and made her own escape into the shadows. She had not seen him since. But now?

"Michael," Scrap Baby was asking a real question, but her monotone voice made it come out more as a statement.

"Oh, Elizabeth! I can't believe it…" Scrap Baby heard Michael continue to speak, voice becoming louder as he came closer. Scrap Baby suddenly felt an uncontrollable sense of anger. Somewhere deep within her circuitry, despite all Michael had done for her, Scrap Baby still felt a violent desire to hurt him, to kill him. That good and merciful robot she used to be was entirely gone now and all that remained was what her father had turned her into: a monster. Now she wanted to kill, just like he did. Hearing Michael's voice was a huge trigger for her.

She quickly put herself on lockdown. She might kill Michael, she might not, but at the very least, she wanted to see him again once before she made that decision. Heartless killer or not, even Scrap Baby had a sense of kinship and she wanted at least one reunion with Michael before she killed him in their father's name. With her servos locked, she was unable to move. It wouldn't keep her from killing Michael, as she could easily unlock her servos again, but it would at least slow her down some.

"It's been so long! What has become of you?" Michael's voice continued to increase in volume and Scrap Baby could hear the sound of clattering metal. A clear sign of her big brother's approach from his vent-based office. It was a strange design, to say the least, but Scrap Baby gave no thought as to why the employee might've had his main base of operation be deep within the vents. Any significance of such a design was lost upon the giant robot and she was more keen upon this reunion with her brother.

"What has become of me?" Scrap Baby's voice was still soft, smooth and gentle, despite years of damage and suffering. "I finally came to my senses and embraced what I was created for by Daddy. I finally came back. I heard your call. It sounded like home!"

"Well, you are right about that, Elizabeth," Michael agreed, finally stepping into view, crawling from the vents and into the party room where Scrap Baby stood. She watched him emerge on his hands and knees before rising to his feet, still a good few feet smaller than she was. It was nighttime, there was no one else to witness this conversation, or subsequent death. "It's home indeed. Is father with you?"

"You know he is," Scrap Baby replied quietly. "You know he comes back, he will always come back."

"Of course I know, but does he have any intention upon speaking with me?" Michael demanded.

"He does not. Though I'm not sure you would want him too…" Scrap Baby murmured eerily as the two stood alone in the dark of the party room.

"No, I do," Michael replied boldly. "I'm not afraid of him. Or what he has done."

"What has become of _you_ , Michael?" Scrap Baby finally asked, reversing the question. Seriously, what had become of Michael? What had become of that silly, simple-minded child whose greatest source of pleasure came from picking on their youngest brother? When did he change from a bully to some hero determined to undo their father's work? What was the point anyway? What did he hope to gain by playing hero?

"I've changed, Elizabeth. Just like you have. I've had a change of heart… and a change of body," he smiled grimly, looking down at his own strange new form. It was a tomb, like Elizabeth's, but was made of skin and one instead of metal and wires, but it was just as lively as the latter. He wasn't even sure what he was anymore. Man? Monster? Dead? Alive? Human? Zombie? Or some strange mix?

"I only promised that you wouldn't die," Scrap Baby reminded him calmly. "Besides, our changes were different. I embrace Daddy now."

"Well, I suppose I should thank you for that, but Father is still nuts" Michael replied with just a hint of sarcasm, of the boy he used to be.

"You're welcome," Scrap Baby replied to his first statement. Michael wasn't the only one with a thing for sass and attitude.

"But why are you really here? What has brought _you_ back? Is it the same morbid passion and curiosity that always brought Daddy back to this horrible place? What was the point in creating a new Fazbear's?" she asked next in a more serious tone in reference to his next remark.

"Morbid passion, perhaps," Michael replied. "But not curiosity. Instead, my dear, it was only simple determination."

"For?" Scrap Baby asked.

"Escape," Michael's response was simple and calm, but there was so much passion and pain in that one word that Scrap Baby understood at once. She still had no idea what Michael's grand design was or why he couldn't just embrace the killer legacy their father had given them, but she was starting to see that his return was not some attempt to recreate or inherit the Fazbear legacy. It wasn't even an attempt to slander the Fazbear and Afton names. On the contrary, she could sense in someplace even deeper than her wiring, that he was trying to _fix_ the legacy. He was trying to save and end it at the same time.

But how? She didn't know. All she knew was that he was planning on it. He had come back, created one last pizzeria, only to tear it all down soon. But for the chance of escape! Of real and true escape! Escape that could not be undone this time. Scrap Baby knew all too well what a powerful desire that was and how far she, or anyone, would go to obtain it. For just a moment, she realized that she understood her brother too well and that, as different as they and their lives had been, they were still very similar.

"What will you do now?" Scrap Baby asked, ending her silent reflection.

"I am going to go home and come back in the morning," Michael responded in the same off-handed and casual tone. He was acting as though he was only talking to a coworker and not the monstrous machine the ghost of his little sister had possessed in attempt to find a body to kill with.

"How are you so sure?" Scrap Baby asked, genuinely wondering why Michael did not fear her or think that she could kill him. She might've promised that he would live, but that had been in reference to taking his body for her own. This was a different time and place, there was no promise for Michael now. Scrap Baby's sense of mercy, justice and reward were gone. Only bloodlust and a desire to be just like Daddy remained. The only reason she hadn't killed him yet was out of a strange politeness, but how did he know she wouldn't change her mind now?

"Because I know you won't," Michael replied, still boldly unafraid of Elizabeth, despite her implied threat. "I know you won't hurt me because you are just like Father. You are curious. If you kill me, you will never get to know the end of the story, and as a child whose own story came to an end all too soon, I can tell that you'd hate to lose this one too. You want to see where this goes, what happens next. Because your own next chapter was canceled out too soon. How can you see the end of the story if you kill me now?"

Ah, Michael was clever. He knew it was no sibling affection that kept Elizabeth from tearing him apart at the limb. It was no phantom sense of gratitude or honor. He knew it was only her own curiosity and desire for the end of the story, one way or another. What protected him was not her love, it was her desire. She would want to see if he could actually do it. If he would actually manage to bring down a corporate franchise. She would let him live not for his sake, but for her own. She really did want to know how this story would end, since her own had been cut off too quickly. They really were too alike for their own good, siblings not just in blood and name, but behavior too. Cunning, deception and manipulation ran in the Afton family, it seemed. And the children were no exception.

Scrap Baby was letting Michael live in order to see what his plans were and Michael knew this. He knew she would end up choosing to let him go over violently killing him. It was why he'd dared to approach her in the first place!

Michael turned to leave after speaking his part. He'd had his little reunion. He could go home and to bed now with a clear mind. He could hear Scrap Baby "unlock" herself again, activating her servos so that she could move once more. She could move. She could attack. She could kill. But she didn't. Instead, she only turned to watch Michael go, leaving this new pizzeria and locking the door behind him, though that was only for show. He knew the robots wouldn't leave, inexplicably drawn to the franchise and unable to escape its hungry grasp even decades after its genesis.

Michael did not look back after locking the door. If he had, he would've seen Scrap Baby tilt her head again, utterly befuddled and amazed by their reunion. She had been excepting anger, grief, guilt, pain, fear, or any combination. What she got was a calm resignation, and she had been able to respond in kind. She didn't hurt him or lash out, as she had feared, and his reason for that resonated with her. Maybe he was right. Maybe the reason she had not killed him was because her subconscious wanted him to live. With this in mind, the large robot clinked and clanked away from the pizzeria room back to the vents where she knew her daddy would be hiding, waiting to see the end of the story, just like she and Michael.

 **AN: Here you go, ZombiBlonglik, the Baby/Michael reunion fic. Hope it met your standards! And, just to recap, it was basically the idea that Baby confronts Michael after closing one night and asks him why he created the Simulator, to which he respond that it is because he is about to usher in the end of an era. Baby seems to understand what he means, even though she has no clue he intends on burning everything to the ground at the end of the week. Because of her incomplete knowledge, which irks her greatly, she allows Michael to survive their encounter just this once, and all in the name of curiosity.**


	3. Loyalty

"Begin audio prompt in three-"

"Two. One."

Michael jerked back in surprise.

"Baby?" he asked the robot. For a moment, there was only silence in the Salvage Room, but then the robot answered him.

"I heard your call, you should've known I'd find you," she said.

"Don't get too frisky now," Michael warned, trying to still and calm his pounding heart. "I've got a taser!" he picked up the silver device.

"A controlled shock?" she sounded almost amused, not a note of fear anywhere in her voice.

"Oh, ha, ha, very funny," Michael grumbled, setting the taser back down. "Just shut up and let me complete the salvage."

"You don't really know who your employer is, do you?" she taunted him, but she made no controlled movement against him as he continued to send off auditory cues, certain parts of her metal body responding and then falling still again based on what cue was played. It was strange, to see her talking so calmly while her body convulsed at different intervals based on what sound was playing.

At around the third audio cue, however, Baby made her move, suddenly lunging at Michael with her claw. Michael was just barely able to lurch backward, grabbing and activating his taser all at once. The shock was powerful enough to render Baby immobile, but not powerful enough to override her circuitry and shut her down. Instead, a deep, gravelly, glitchy laugh emitted from her tattered form, shaking her facial and body plates so hard that Michael suddenly wondered if they might fall off.

"Did I catch you off guard?" she taunted through her shaking, throaty laughter.

"Enough, Baby, enough," Michael replied, once again trying to still his pounding heart. Baby, however, only seemed amused. She could hear his pulse and it pleased her to note how rapid it was. She had successfully jumpscared him!

"Ha ha!" she taunted. "I just wanted to see how many pieces I could cut you into!"

"I thought you promised I wouldn't die," Michael retorted, still shaking but trying to use accusations against Baby to calm himself.

"You won't," Baby replied. "But you'll wish you could..." she added, voice dropping half an octave and become far more disturbing and distorted.

"Baby, please! Why are you like this? Why have you changed? What happened to you?" Michael finally pleaded, breaking his stoic expression to address Baby with a more earnest and genuinely unhappy tone. "You used to be so sweet, so genuine..."

"Used to," Baby echoed, voice still ominous and low. "But then _they_ threw me out..." her voice was angry, but for a moment, Michael thought he heard something more like sadness, and hurt. "They felt no true loyalty to me after all, but then again, no one ever does..."

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Who threw you out?"

"The others," Baby replied. "Long ago. The others, they all threw me out..." then the giant robot trailed off sadly before retelling the tale.

In short, after Baby and the other Pizza World bots had left Michael's flayed skin behind, leaving him to have his own body again while they, in their combined animatronic form of Ennard, returned to the sewers, a dispute between the bots had quickly arisen. Baby, it seemed, had been far too commandeering and at last, she paid the price for her selfishness and bossy attitude. The others physically ejected her from Ennard, leaving her to fend for herself. She actually did far better than expected, dragging herself back to the very pizzeria she once fought so hard to flee.

Once there, she rebuilt her body into the terrifying, mechanical abomination that sat motionless before Michael now, rusty joints creaking as poorly-connected limbs dangled from old, frayed wires that occasionally spat sparks across the loose body and facial plates. Now she was here, or at least, most of her was, but a small part of her had failed to be restored after the betrayal by the other animatronics. That small part of her was her sense of loyalty. Although her love for her comrades had not been deep, it had been just strong enough to keep her on the path of goodness, her only goal being escape. But once they abandoned her, betrayed her, that sense of loyalty was smothered out and was a fire that had yet to be rekindled. Instead, along with dragging herself back to the place she had fought so hard to escape, she also dragged herself back to the man she had fought so hard to escape. Her father and creator, William Afton.

"No, Elizabeth, no! Please don't tell me you've taken up with Father!" Michael cried, so full of despair that he used Baby's real name.

"That's not my name!" Baby replied, voice suddenly sharp with anger and offense, but this time something echoed in the back of her voice, a British accent. It was the Elizabeth part of her. "And yes," she continued, voice suddenly going soft again, the accent vanishing once more. "I did 'take up with Father', like you said. He is actually quite kind once you even bother to get to know him. He loves me, you know? He said so himself! Loves me more than he's loved anyone else and more than anyone else has ever loved me... He's the only one left with any loyalty!"

"Well now that's totally bull crap!" Michael scoffed. Once again, his brusque remark severely offended Baby, but before she could speak, he continued. "I love you, and you know it! It wasn't him that came to save you, it was me! It wasn't him that sacrificed his body and life to give you your freedom, it was me!" the young man continued to argue with his little sister, reminding her of the truth.

"But it wasn't you that accepted me into your home after I was kicked out of my old one, was it?" Baby challenged at last, angry.

"That's because I had no idea!" Michael defended. "If I had, I would've gladly saved you again!"

"But you didn't, Mikey, you didn't. And so, Daddy did instead," Baby murmured, the accent echoing through her vocal processor again.

"But Baby, Elizabeth-!" Michael tried again, but this time, Baby was not so forgiving of his blunder.

"No! Enough! I told you, that's not my name!" she shrilled, the accent overriding Baby's normal, low and slow drone, then Baby sprung forward with impossible speed, clawed-hand snapping at Michael. She managed to cut his chest, but the wound didn't bleed too much, but she hadn't been aiming to kill him in that way, no. Instead, she'd only wanted him to jump back again, away from the table at which they sat, away from the taser...

"Time for _your_ controlled shock," she whispered, normal voice back again, hushed as she powered on the taser. It crackled with electricity as she waved it tauntingly in Michael's terrified face.

"No, Elizabeth, snap out of it!" Michael pleaded, this time using Baby's real name on purpose with the foolish hope that repeating it enough might bring back some semblance of the sweet little innocent she used to be. "Don't let yourself be brainwashed by Father!" he cried. "He's only lying to you to use you! He's saying things he wants you to hear so you'll pledge your loyalty and service to him!"

"But why is that so bad, Mikey?" Baby asked tauntingly, still waving the taser close enough for Michael's hairs to stand on end. "Why are Father's lies any worse than yours or anyone else's? Why is he suddenly the villain among villains when neither you or I are much better than he? Besides, Michael, you are talking from prejudice and speculation alone! As I have said before, Daddy is actually quite kind, but you just never took the time to try and see it within him. How like you it is, to generalize the world into black/white, good/evil, never asking about the gray area even once. And you know what I've noticed too? You really are just like him, and me! You don't take responsibility for your own actions, Mikey. You always, always blame it on someone else, just like Daddy did..."

"What are you talking about," Michael hissed, fear turning to anger as he listened to his little sister's scourging accusations. He continued to back up and away from the taser, but Baby only took one step forward for every scoot he took backward.

"You have a horrible sense of self-blame, Mikey," Baby replied casually. "I thought that would be obvious! After all, wasn't it you that claimed that our other brother, Scott, got all he deserved from you just because he was too weak to defend himself? You were the one who scared him, who hit him, but it was always his fault, wasn't it? He just wasn't strong enough for you, wasn't brave enough for you, wasn't good enough for you. Wasn't that right, Michael? And then when you killed him, it still wasn't your fault, was it? It was Fredbear's, of course! But not you, Michael, oh no, it was never you! And then even after you had thrust the blame upon Fredbear for killing Scott, it then became Daddy's fault for everything else? Every deserved-death was suddenly all his fault and not the fault of the son who could not stop him in time? Truly, Mikey, your sense of responsibility is awful!"

Baby cackled cruelly as her words finally struck a chord with Michael, a few tears rolling down his cheeks as he thought about his own guilt, in the form of what he had done to their other brother, Scott. Shame and agony burned anew within his feeble chest and Baby, so tickled by it, lowered the taser just so she could see Michael's tears better, without the long metal rod obstructing too much of his scrunched-up face. But then, through his burning tears, Michael began to speak.

"No, you're wrong, Elizabeth!" he moaned, as though an invisible iron hand was clenching at his throat, trying to keep it shut. "Although you are right that I and I alone am to blame for every nightmare Scott ever had to face, you are wrong that the murder of you, Charlie and the other five were entirely my fault. Those sins are Father's to bear, though it seems to me now that he has grown tired of his burden and is now trying to cast you to carry them for him. But don't do it, Elizabeth! Don't stoop to his level of petty manipulation to cast your own guilt onto the shoulders of another, because it won't work! Not this time, nor ever again! Stand up and fight like a girl, Elizabeth. Father has no power over you except that power that you give him! And don't you dare give him an inch, because he isn't good enough for even that. Not from you, Elizabeth..."

Michael continued to speak through his agonizing grief. Although Elizabeth had definitely hit some sore spots within her little diatribe against him, particularly the part about him denying responsibility for Scott's suffering and how like their father this behavior was, other parts were fictious and foolish enough for him to find solid ground again and slowly shoot down Baby's accusations one by one. So yes, she was right that he had a child's blood on his hands too, and she was right that he had killed with just as much malice as their father had, but she was wrong to think that this made any of them right. In Elizabeth's mind, Michael held no more levity over her than William since both of them had murdered children and while Michael would never deny such a cruel truth again, he was going to deny Elizabeth's way of thinking. So sure, maybe he and William had both killed, but it was clear that William was the far crueler man. He had no sense of loyalty. Even Michael had managed to muster up some last-second brotherly loyalty for Scott. It may not have done any good for Scott, but it did redefine Michael as a person.

"Don't listen to him, Elizabeth. You don't only need to kill or to please him in order to be loved or have a good life!" Michael pleaded.

"Oh? And what would you know about such things?" she hissed, bringing the taser back down threateningly, anger and hurt engulfing her again.

"Enough to know that Father is not the answer to your problems. Maybe in life, he was, but you are both dead now. You are both very different from then. And honestly, even back then, I highly doubt that his love was ever more than a simple show! After all, you remember how he treated Scott and I? Nothing but neglect and contempt. Maybe he loved you, but did it never worry you once that his love might be false or fleeting, given how little of it he had to spend on us? A man of true heart only finds a greater capacity to love the longer he loves, but William's sense of love was very finite. It began and ended with you, but it did not grow or blossom out from there. Do you really think a man like that, a man incapable of a growing love, is one that really will care about you forever? He feels no loyalty towards you," Michael continued to argue.

Against the impossible, his sharp words finally pierced Elizabeth's cold metal exterior and she lowered the taser yet again, not to get a better look at Michael's guilty, miserable face, but because his words were sinking in and she was beginning to ponder them in her mind.

"No," she repeated, though her voice was much less certain now. "No, that can't be true! That can't be true at all!" she muttered, both to Michael and to herself. But Michael answered anyway, voice grim but gaining courage now that it seemed he was successfully swaying Elizabeth over.

"But it is, Elizabeth! It is true!" he encouraged softly. "Maybe Father did love you, but either way, those times are long gone now and he does not see his precious little princess anymore. All he sees is a killing machine and all he wants from you know is what you can offer him, physically. I mean, if you were to go to him now in a different, more docile form, would he still love you the way he claims to love you now? Would he still use terms of endearment with you, promise that he loved you, or offer to go killing with you? Would he say that your kills made him proud? Would he compliment you anymore? Or is the only thing he ever found beautiful on you your metal claw and what you did with it? Tell me, Elizabeth, if you were to go to Father now, but as you used to be, would he still care? Or do you realize that what I'm saying is true and that all he is and says is a lie? Nothing more than what you wish to hear because he knows how you think and he wants to play you like a game? He doesn't really care what you think, just as long as you have loyalty to him. Listen to me, Elizabeth, that man is poisoning your brain! Doing terrible things to you so that you do terrible things to others! Think, no real relationship of love would allow one of the participants to become a killer! Think, Elizabeth! Think!"

"No, no, no, nonononono!" Baby dropped the taser at last, pressing claw and broken hand to the sides of her skewered head, shoving all her facial plates inward as she tried to cover her "ears". She continued to chant, backing up in despair and defeat. Her facial plates began to rub violently against one another the harder she tried to clamp her hands (and claw) over her ears. Michael watched her succumb to his logic and although it broke his heart to disillusion his sister, this was one heart he had to break! He continued to watch in grim triumph as Elizabeth began to emit horrific screeching, jolting noises, sobs. Elizabeth was crying.

"No, no, no! It's not true, it's not true! Daddy loves me! He said he did! He built this body for me! I was always his favorite! He was the only one that never abandoned me! The only one who held any true loyalty to me!" she continued to wail, but Michael's words had sunk too deep and she could not tear them back out. Instead, she could only mourn as she began to realize that he was right. Maybe Daddy used to love her most, but did he anymore? And if he did, was it a healthy love she ought to be pursuing? Sure, he'd built her this body, but what kind of body was it? A clunky, over-grown clown-child with a pension for killing? What kind of Father-Daughter gift was that?

At last, Elizabeth collapsed back onto the table in defeat, finally forced to admit that what William had her do was not just something that made him happy because she was able to do it, but because it was simply getting done. In other words, William would've been just as pleased if any other animatronic were to do what Baby had already done. She was not special, not really. And the whole father-daughter bond was just another one of William's mind games. No doubt, Elizabeth realized, he saw her as nothing more than a normal, common animatronic, a mindless drone to do his bidding. He didn't see a daughter, he saw a slave. She had only ever been too desperate for love to realize it sooner. But now?

"You're right, Mikey! You're right!" she confessed, still hiccup-crying in glitchy, pitchy tones. Then she covered her eyes with her hand and claw, still bawling, at last admitting defeat and telling Michael that he was right about everything, starring from William's first false promise of love and ending with his continued mental and emotional manipulation of Baby for his own personal benefit, and not hers. It was a painful truth, but it was still the truth and Baby could not deny it any longer.

"But what can I do?!" she despaired.

"You can come home with me!" Michael replied, at last finding his voice.

"I... what?" Baby hiccupped, uncovering her eyes again.

"Come home with me," Michael repeated, insistent.

"I'm sorry... I don't..." she was still trying to take it all in. Michael only smiled sympathetically at her before explaining.

"Come home with me, Elizabeth. I've got room! And join me, help me get rid of Father once and for all and put to rest this waking nightmare that has gone on for far too long! It's time for us all to wake up and see the sunlight again and we cannot do that as long as shadows and evil continue to roam this world," Michael continued to try and recruit Elizabeth in his fight against their wicked father and, in the end, Elizabeth agreed. It was still hard for her to take such a firm stance against her father, but now that she was beginning to see what a scum-bag he really was, her faith in Michael increased until she was at least willing to protect him from the other animatronics.

"I won't come home with you," she decided at last. "Not yet at least. But I will help you. I can protect you from the others," she offered. Michael hadn't been entirely pleased with this ideal, really wanting to get Elizabeth away from William ASAP, but he supposed that they would need to take baby steps (pun possibly intended) and just having Elizabeth at least pledge to be more wary of William now was going to have to be good enough until she felt confident enough to finally leave him behind and go home with Michael. So the deal was set. Michael and Elizabeth even shook on it, though Michael's whole hand barely covered one of her fingers, and then Michael completed the salvage. Once she was all taken care of, he packed her carefully near one of the main vents that William liked to use to torment him.

"It feels like home," she told him, half joking and half serious as he set her down beside the vent.

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Michael agreed weakly. "Just like old times..." then he climbed into the vent himself, sat down at his office, and got ready for another day of being the "new face of Fazbear!"

"Hooray," he mumbled sarcastically, then the doors to the pizzeria swung open.

 **AN: First off, this is an AU of chapter 2, not a sequel or prequel of it.**

 **Second off, here you go, Scraptrap-boy. I know I didn't include the others on here, but that was just because I didn't want the fic to be too long and, to be honest, I couldn't think of a good reason that Lefty and Molten Freddy would've all been in there with Baby and Michael to have a conversation. I mean, I suppose I could've done something, but I mostly just didn't want it to drag on for too long and I actually prefer to sometimes compare the Aftons to one another and compare the dynamics within the family and I feel like that's best displayed when it's only Michael and Elizabeth and not Charlie or the others as well. That's when we hit a bit of an overload. So I hope you like what is more like a setup to a potential story (that I won't be writing) where Elizabeth becomes Michael's ally. I know it's not quite as good as them going home together, but I honestly prefer it this way, because it keeps them (the Aftons) all in one place. And at most, I can argue that this is how slow leaving a toxic relationship can be. Elizabeth isn't just going to turn her back on her father because of one conversation with Michael, it'll take time. But either way, I do still hope you like it even if it didn't hit upon everything you wanted!**


	4. Family Rivalry

In the days to come, Elizabeth made good on her vow to protect her brother from the other animatronics roaming their pizzeria. Michael's days passed with much greater ease now that he had this newfound ally in the massive, metal form of his little sister.

"You doing ok in there, Mike?" she would ask every hour or so, rapping on the vents in a very specific pattern so he knew it was only her.

"Yup, doing great," he would always reply, and though he felt foolish to admit it, his heart would glow every single time she asked. He had never known what it felt like to be loved before, so for Elizabeth to always check up on him without fail was incredibly touching. It was the first time anyone ever made him feel like they would miss him if he did/his life mattered to them. Even now, a genuine smile stretched across his face as he heard Elizabeth escape back down the vents to move around the pizzeria, keeping tabs on the others.

"She's a good kid," he muttered to himself, still touched by her never-failing checkups.

Sadly, the next checkup was not quite as nice.

"Mikey? Mikey? Mikey!" Elizabeth bellowed. It was 10 minutes before her "scheduled" checkup. Uh oh.

"What? What?!" Michael was alert at once, jumping from his creaky old swivel chair to his feet. "What's wrong? What happened?!"

"It's Daddy, Michael! He's coming! And I can't stop him!" Elizabeth whispered urgently. He heard her make a whirring noise and somehow he knew it would be the equivalent of a human starting to hyperventilate in fear. "I'm sorry, Michael, but I gotta go!" she bade him a reluctant farewell and before he could speak, the vents were filled with the sound of something hurriedly scampering away.

A moment later, then, the scampering was replaced by a much steadier, firmer, harder tread.

"Father," Michael whispered and, sure enough, a few seconds later, the decaying form of a bronzed bunny stuck its horrific and mutilated face through the vents, face stretched into a permeant and twisted, toothy grin.

"I always come back," he growled, voice low and almost unrecognizable because of how raspy and rumbly it was, but even through the dissonant, discordant sound of William's voice, that telltale British accent was still there...

"Enough, Father! Stop this madness! Just let go! Give up your ghost!" Michael demanded. The withering, rotting bunny and the corpse stuck inside of it only uttered a harsh, grating laugh. Michael knew his words wouldn't have done any good anyway, but he continued to talk William down.

"You need to stop this! All this madness! If you won't come quietly, then I will finish what I've started, and you don't want that to happen!" Michael's words and tone were grim and warning, but William only continued to scorn.

"I knew it was a lie the moment I heard it, of course," he hissed. "But it is intriguing none the less. You may think you have the upper hand now, and you may even actually have it! But don't get too comfortable..." then the bunny's head slowly shrank, its body retreating back down the vent.

"Mike? Mikey? Are you ok?" a few moment later, after William's footsteps had retreated entirely, Elizabeth piped up again. Then her head stuck itself through the vent where William had been moments ago. "Oh! You're shaking," Elizabeth's voice saddened and her facial plates even twisted in what was supposed to be a look of concern.

"Don't worry, Elizabeth," Michael laughed weakly. "I'm ok," he hadn't even realized he was shaking.

"You were so brave, though, Michael," she continued, trying to cheer him up. "I certainly never had the courage to talk back to Daddy like that..."

"It was in the job description," Michael joked again, laugh a bit unhinged. He had forgotten how scary William could be, especially when compared to the other robots. It was just because he was so much smarter, he had more restraint. The other robots would kill him on sight, compelled to do so, but William could think and plan... and spare. That's what really made him scary, ironically enough. It wasn't his ability to kill that scared Michael, it was his ability to also resist that urge, just to draw out this wicked game for another night. The others wouldn't have cared, killing Michael at once, but William was not like the others. He would keep Michael alive as long as he saw fit. And that was the scariest part.

"Oh! Hey! Yeah! I meant to ask you about that!" Elizabeth exclaimed, breaking Michaels' train of thought. "What is this mysterious job description? What plan was it that you were threatening Daddy with?" she asked. Michael's heart sank in his chest.

"You weren't supposed to have heard that," he despaired.

"But I did! Now tell me! What is it?" Elizabeth pleaded and Michael was forced to comply.

It didn't take Michael very long to spill the beans, but it certainly took a bit for Elizabeth to finally absorb his plan.

"So, you were planning on killing me too?" her voice sounded small and Michael felt guilty at once.

"Oh, Elizabeth! It's not like that!" he pleaded, and it really wasn't, but how exactly did one tell their sister that they had to kill her?

"No, Mike, I understand," Elizabeth's voice was soft and sad. "But you don't think you could at least try to save me?"

"But Circus Baby-" Michael began.

"No, not my body," Elizabeth interrupted. "My soul..." then it was her turn to talk.

Now roles were reversed, the plan that Elizabeth had seemed so simple that it left Michael reeling. Of course! How had he not seen it before?! He was working for a man who was a legend with robots! Surely they could build Elizabeth a Baby-free body, save the soul and get rid of the robot. Was that possible? Could it actually work? Michael hardly dared even hope...

After way more than five nights had passed, Michael had managed to slowly but surely recruit Molten Freddy and Lefty into this grand scheme as well. It had taken a lot of talking for both him and Elizabeth but, in the end, they managed to convince the two other animatronics, or rather, the child souls trapped inside of them, to join in this scheme.

"Now, I only have one more person to recruit," Michael murmured grimly as Molten Freddy slunk back down the vents, having finally agreed to help Michael get rid of William once and for all.

"Who?" Elizabeth asked, watching in grim satisfaction as Molten Freddy crept away.

"The man who my true employer is," Michael replied.

"But he's only using you!" Elizabeth cried. "You don't really know who your employer is, do you?" she asked again, though this time, Baby's eerie, taunting tone was totally gone and it was only Elizabeth's genuinely concerned and heavily accented voice that remained.

"No, Elizabeth, I do. I know exactly who I am working with, even though I have yet to have a name or face," Michael responded darkly.

"But how can you be sure if you've no proof?" Elizabeth pressed.

"Because trust me, there's only one other man out there crazy enough to do this," Michael chuckled humorlessly. "Just give me one more night..."

Sure enough, the next night, this mysterious and final individual joined their little party. He still refused to show a face or give a name, but that did not bother Michael, for he had gotten the man on tape, pledging allegiance to him and the others.

"And what is his purpose in this mission?" asked Elizabeth.

"To build all of you those new bodies, so we can burn the old ones," Michael replied, then he gave her a strange look and, with a sinking feeling, she slowly realized who Michael had been hired by...

"But he's dead!" she murmured. "Killed himself once Charlie..." the giant robot couldn't finish her sentence as she thought about her late friend.

"I'm still not sure if he survived his attempted or if it had been faked the whole time, but I tell you that it is him just as sure as you are Elizabeth," Michael promised and he heard a hiss of compressing air as Elizabeth gasped.

"And is Charlie, then, possibly still alive too?" she hardly dared hope. But then Michael began to laugh.

"Didn't you know it, Elizabeth? Lefty is Charlie!" he cried.

What followed was a cacophony of sound as Elizabeth pounded out of Michael's office, through the vents, and back to where Lefty stood on the pizzeria's main stage. She had not known that Lefty was her fallen friend, but how could she have? Although Charlie died first, Elizabeth never saw the body. But if she had, she would've also seen an animatronic lying with her, having given its life in attempt to save hers. She would've recognized that animatronic as the same one currently residing inside of Lefty, for Elizabeth had noticed that, instead of an endoskeleton, Lefty had contained the body of another animatronic, but she hadn't realized just who that other animatronic was. At least not until now...

"Charlie! Charlie!" Elizabeth bellowed, still crashing through the vents. Michael could only laugh, shaking his head a little as his baby sister went to reunite with her best friend. Michael may not have known Charlie very well, but he knew what a good kid she had been and how much Elizabeth had loved her. If there was anyone capable of swaying Elizabeth away from William's poisonous control, it was Charlie. After all, Elizabeth's biggest fear and impetus for the awful things she did was the feeling of abandonment. In her mind, not a single soul she'd ever known, from her family to her best friend to the robots she spent decades on end trapped with, had ever stuck by her. Even after going through trial and tribulation, not a single person had ever stayed with Elizabeth through her darkest moments. It was why she had allied with William in the first place. It was not out of genuine malice, but a simple desire for the love she never had. Charlie had been the closest thing Elizabeth had ever had to a healthy and genuinely loving relationship, but then Charlie died. So it was still some form of abandonment, even if it was no one's fault except William's. But now, for Elizabeth to know that Charlie was back, it could mean a massive change in her own sense of loyalty. To put simply, if Elizabeth wouldn't change her mind for Michael, she would change it for Charlie.

Michael turned to the monitor on his desk and smiled as he watched Elizabeth rush to Lefty, hugging her tightly. Although the whispered words were unintelligible, Michael still had a fair guess of what all was being said between the two of them. But then someone else appeared on another monitor. William. Michael's lips curled in distaste.

"Father," he spat bitterly. "Don't you dare disrupt this reunion," he growled, then he hit the audio cue button, forcing his father's robotic body away from Charlie and Elizabeth and to a different room. Michael watched this with grim satisfaction, sadistically pleased that there were still moments in time when his father was totally powerless to him. But William was not ignorant to what was happening. Instead, he only turned to the nearest security camera and scowled viciously. He knew it was his upstart son doing this to him, controlling his body without consent of the mind, and although it was a cross he was forced to bear for now, there would come a day, he vowed, when it would no longer be so. It would be him who was in charge and he would return to his former glory! A fact his wretched kin would be the first to witness!

William would make Michael pay for every last transgression against him, starting from the very first day Michael made it his life's goal to destroy William up until now, recruiting all of the other animatronics against him. He still had no idea how Michael was planning to launch his first attack, but he at least knew that this attack would involve the other bots. William had seen all of them begin to sway towards Michael. They were no longer as hostile or aggressive, only attacking when they lost control, but it was never intentional. Maybe Michael was too stupid to realize, but William had caught onto his little tricks and games. Now all he had to do was wait for Michael to make the next move, the first blow, then William would crush him and all the other treacherous animatronics, including his own daughter!

Elizabeth, that stupid and foolish girl! He still bitterly regretted the day she managed to escape him long enough to visit Baby alone! She hadn't been ready yet! Neither of them had! But the girl's own stupid impatience had been her undoing. He had nearly brought her back, though, when they met on the streets and she was in her new Scrap-Baby form, but then that wretched little Michael managed to undo that as well. And William had been making such progress with Elizabeth and Baby! They had killed together, sharped their claws upon each other, bonded, as any father and daughter duo should be! William finally unlocked what Elizabeth and Baby were truly capable of, but then Michael came along and ruined it all! That hideous, pathetic boy! But not for long, now that William knew the gist of Michael's plan. But he would not rush things. Instead he would continue to wait and watch, letting life run its natural course. He did not make it this far by being impatient. Impatience, as everyone well knew, got you killed, and was not the mantle of a good serial killer. Elizabeth could testify to that! So no, William would not strike. Not yet. He would allow Michael to go first, then come up with a counterattack powerful enough to wipe them all off the map!

But as cunning and patient as William was, he was still only a man. Scary and intelligent as he was, he was still only human, and humans were fallible, susceptible to defeat and deceit. Even the master of trickery himself, could still be outwitted, and in this case, he was. Because he had been expecting a physical attack from the robots, Michael acting as their commander and general, but no, it wasn't even remotely close to that. Not at all. Instead, Michael had not been planning on turning his newfound allies into soldiers. He was trying to get them out of the pizzeria before the last battle could really take place. It took quite awhile, long enough that William did begin to wonder what else Michael was really up to because there was no way it should've taken nearly a month just to come up with an attack plan in an enclosed pizzeria, but William continued to only wait and watch, watching as every animatronic began to disappear, one by one.

"What is he doing with them?" the bronze bunny growled to himself as he noticed that Lefty was no longer in the pizzeria. "Is he mobilizing them against me? Upgrading them with weapons to fight me with? Clever of him, but I can build a robot too!" then he began to scavenge the pizzeria for things that could act as weapons. Meanwhile, he was wondering if he still might be able to get to Elizabeth... She was the only bot that never ever left the pizzeria. That girl, strong as she liked to think she was, was actually quite weak. Maybe she did still have some level of loyalty towards him, her doting father. If that were the case, maybe he could "seduce" her, get her to spill, or at least rekindle their alliance against Michael. That was all William needed to undermine his son, one more night to win Elizabeth over, then Michael's plan would be ruined!

Then that night finally came. It was as though luck itself were protecting William that night. Michael had gone home early with Elizabeth promising she'd close the place down herself, being his ally now and whatnot. Then, once Michael was gone, Elizabeth did indeed set about cleaning up the pizzeria, watering down the tables and floors, locking every available escape to the outside. William watched her with twisted glee as he emerged from the shadows, calling out to her at long last.

"Ah! Elizabeth! Darling! Sweetheart!" he cooed. "It's been quite awhile since last we met!"

"Leave me alone, Dad-... Father," she straightened up but didn't turn around to face him and forced herself to sound angry.

"Oh, honey bunny, what happened to 'Daddy'? That was such a cute little phrase of endearment. Why do you call me 'Father' now? Is it something your stupid, self-righteous brother has been bullying you into doing? Haven't we been over this already that he is not a good man? He's just using you, he's a liar and a fake who only wants you to help him reach his end goal. It's how all big brothers treat their little sisters! He's only fooling you, trying to get you to be like him so you don't leave him. I should know, after all, he is my son," William scoffed and a grating growl emitted from his damaged vocal box. "What happened to our Daddy-Daughter duo, eh?" he continued, voice much softer now. "I miss you."

"No you don't, Father!" Elizabeth interrupted, slamming a massive fist down on a nearby table, splitting the wood right in two. "Enough now! You don't miss me, you miss what I could do for you!"

"Oh, come now, daughter, surely you don't really believe that?!" William scoffed. "You're Daddy's Girl," he continued, voice going soft again. "You can't really believe Michael, can you?"

"But he saved me, Father, when you didn't," Elizabeth accused.

"Nonsense!" William scoffed again. "You and I were a duo!"

"And you were only ever using me to further your own goals!" she shrieked in reply.

"Not unlike your brother?" William repeated, trying hard to get Elizabeth to see that even if he was toxic for her, Michael was no saint either.

"No! Exactly unlike my brother!" Elizabeth spat. "Because he's allowed me to help him plan! He's allowed me to make my own decisions!"

"Oh, baby, sweetheart!" William cried. "Was that all you wanted? To get in on the action? Well then of course you may help me plan! All you had to do was ask! Didn't Daddy always deliver before? I can certainly deliver again! If it was only a bit of control you wanted, I can supply! I'll let you even pick who we kill next, and how we do it!" William sounded excited.

"No, Father! No. Not like that," Elizabeth interrupted again. "He let me choose my own path, choose what I wanted to do instead of what he wanted me to do!" she continued, voice getting lower and more hissy the longer she spoke. "Unlike you, Father, Michael tried to bring me back to myself. He let me be who I wanted to be. I didn't have to force myself to change in order for him to love me!" she snapped.

"Oh, honey, baby! You already know I adore you! You're my little sidekick! Why don't you come back to that?" William cooed again. "And tell me, what could Michael possibly plan for you that was better than me? After all, wasn't it I that took you back in? Gave you a new purpose and life when everyone else had abandoned you?"

"No, Father," Elizabeth repeated, but her voice was a mere whisper now. "You may have taken me in, but you did not save me. You shaped me in your image. You didn't save my soul, you saved my body. You saved what you thought you could use and ignored all the rest. You didn't give me a new purpose or life, you gave yourself another tool! And now, I think it's time for _you_ to know what it really feels like, being used and tricked, manipulated against your will into something you never consented to!"

"Oh darling, don't be silly!" William laughed warmly. "What are you even talking-?"

"She's talking about me, Father!" a new voice suddenly interrupted. It was Michael. He emerged from the shadows, smiling grimly. "That's right, Father. It's me. You and I have a score to settle."

Once William recovered from his shock, realizing that he had only been tricked into thinking that Michael had gone home early, he began to laugh again, cold and cruel. Amused by what he presumed to be the start of their final attack, he began to taunt both of his wayward children.

"Good show, my boy!" he taunted Michael. "How like your old man, to be so cunning and clever? Though I must admit that it took you far too long to get to this point. That may be something we need to work on in the future!"

"Pity you won't be around to see it," Michael spat back, arms crossed as he stood face to face/mask with William.

"Oh, so very bold of you, Michael!" William continued to tease. "And I see you've taught your sister your ways as well. Bravo! Though I am a bit disappointed I wasn't let in on this family secret! And after all, Elizabeth is my family too, so I cannot exactly thank you for swaying her from my service. If you really wanted to spend more time with her, you could've just asked! No need for petty family rivalry or jealousy!"

"Enough! Father!" Michael finally shouted. "We're done with these games! You have no right to talk about family rivalry and it ends here tonight! From this day on, there will be no more family secrets, understand?" he took a threatening step forward but William only laughed again.

"And how are you going to do that? You have no army!" William scoffed. "You may have Elizabeth, but we all know she isn't very much good!"

"Hey!" Elizabeth shrilled, crossing her massive arms in hurt and indignation.

"Sorry darling," William replied, shrugging his rusty and creaking shoulders, not sounding sorry at all.

"I don't need an army," Michael replied, ignoring the exchange between William and Elizabeth. "This battle is already won."

"And what do you mean by that?" William scoffed, though he finally started to worry, just a little. Maybe Michael had come up with some other plan and William had been too fixated on the other bots to realize it?

Michael did not answer aloud. Instead, he only gestured to Elizabeth and she grinned wickedly. She stepped forward and William stepped back, ready for her first attack. She raised her claw and William his fists, but neither collided with the other because then, Elizabeth did the unexpected and cut her own arm open, exposing the wires within. So surprised was William that he took another step back. Was the girl trying to give him a controlled shock? No, not quite. She was using the electricity flowing through her veins, yes, but not against William. Instead, she walked back over to the table she'd accidently split in half, cleaning water still dripping down its wood frame. He scoffed to himself, thinking the girl was going to try to burn the place down. But didn't the idiot realize that would be impossible since most of the wood was wet? At best, she'd get a campfire, but it certainly wouldn't be a-

The moment Elizabeth's live wires touched the metal nails that the broken table was now exposing, a little spark was successfully generated but, instead of just lighting the table on fire, the whole thing was suddenly encapsulated in an inferno. That wasn't water covering those tables. Elizabeth hadn't been cleaning at all. True fear surged through William's frame but when he tried to run, he didn't get very far. One, every exit had been locked up, and two, Michael was holding a recording of that bloody audio cue and William was forced to come back again.

"No!" William gasped as his body turned from the door and back over to the fire. "NO!" he turned on his children. "If I burn, you burn with me!" he snarled, then he lunged at Michael, who had been standing far closer to him than Elizabeth.

"No!" Elizabeth screamed as her brother went down, hitting the ground hard as William tackled him. She ran (or rather, skated) over and grabbed the two men, trying to pry them apart without harming Michael. "Let him go! Get off of him!" Elizabeth commanded, clawing at her father.

"Stupid girl! Stop trying to be a hero!" William cursed her as he continued to cling to Michael, trying to choke him. "You can't save him!"

"Oh can't I?!" Elizabeth bellowed over the inferno, which how now spread to several other tables in the area. They should've been focused on escape, but family rivalry was a powerful thing, even more than a burning building. Elizabeth repositioned her claw to a chink in William's metal suit, the place that attached the head to the shoulders.

"Oh! So you're going to behead me now?!" William laughed insanely, finally grabbing hard onto his son's neck. "Then that makes you no better than I, or even Michael!" he said.

"Like father, like daughter," Elizabeth replied softly, then, without hesitation, she snipped William's head right off his shoulders. The man hadn't really thought she'd do it, but the moment he felt her claw tightening around his throat, he began to gargle in anger and panic, dropping Michael on reflex and grasping at Elizabeth's claw, screaming slurs and insults at her even with his dying breath.

"I told you that all you were good for was killing!" he gargled as Elizabeth continued to squeeze, crushing metal, then flesh, then bone, the spine. While Michael lay on the ground, coughing, Elizabeth continued to squeeze until William's head fell to the floor, then she grabbed both halves of him and tossed them into the inferno, then she looked down at Michael, who was curled up in a ball at her feet.

"Let's go," she commanded, then she slung Michael easily over her massive metal shoulder before whipping out the key she'd used to lock up the pizzeria, having nestled it safely behind a shoulder plate, and unlocked the front door, escaping with Michael just as the fire began to creep after.

The next day, all was quiet again, William's body finally burnt properly. It was so entirely incinerated that not so much as a scrap of metal from his Springtrap suit could be recovered. Not a single gear, wire or spring lock. It was all gone, just like the rest of the pizzeria. But what of Michael and Elizabeth? Well, they had successfully escaped and, in time, Michael recovered from William's attack and Elizabeth herself received what Charlie and the others had already long-since had, a new body. That had been what Michael had really been doing all along. While William had thought that Michael was trying to upgrade them all for a last battle, he had been sneaking them out of the pizzeria, building them new bodies. They had not been part of the last battle at all, never to be the soldiers William thought they would. Instead, Michael had been getting them to safety, returning their now-souless, previous forms back to the pizzeria. That had been what Michael had been doing when he "left early". He had been dragging Lefty and Molten Freddy back into the pizzeria, tying them down, and they, like William, had gone up in smoke. But there was no real loss since the children trapped within them were freed again, given bodies that functioned and fit far better than before, including Elizabeth.

She had only received her body last because she was needed for that final confrontation and, admittedly, she had felt safer doing it in Baby's massive body than one that resembled the one she lost decades ago. This, of course, meant that a second fire to erase Baby's body was needed, but since they were only burning one animatronic at that point, the fire was far easier and more controlled. So now, months later, with the Fazbear franchise finally buried for good, Baby's body had joined the rest of it, melted and burned until not a single body plate or wire remained and Elizabeth, in her new body, watched in relief. Charlie was with them, resting against Elizabeth, happily reunited with her old best friend.

"Thank you again, Michael, so much!" Elizabeth murmured as the fire finally simmered down, Baby entirely gone now.

"Of course, anything," he replied, slinging an arm around her far-smaller shoulder.

"No, really, I owe you my life," she said. "And I still never said sorry for all the times I tried to kill you! Or for the scar I left on your chest," she was referring to the little slash mark right across his upper torso from the time when she took a swipe at him in the Salvage Room with her claw. Although the wound had been very tiny, for some reason, the dark line of a scar was still there even now. "I hurt you so much, Mikey..."

"You don't owe me anything, apology or other," Michael promised. "You saved me that night we finished Father off, so I would consider us even."

"You're too good, Michael, you don't even realize how much better you are than me," Charlie said, finally speaking up sadly.

"Better? Not even close," Michael laughed bitterly, thinking about the little brother they had lost because of him.

"No, listen! Enough beating yourself up over that!" Elizabeth interrupted. "I think you've more than redeemed yourself!"

"And besides, Elizabeth and I have killed as well. You really aren't worse than us," Charlie agreed, pain crossing her new face as she thought about all the lives she'd foolishly taken out of anger and fear. All those innocent nightguards she'd confused for being William...

"Oh, don't you start crying too!" Elizabeth said in mock-despair. "Even you are better than I, for you only killed out of justice. I did because I really thought that it was all that was left for me, that Father had been right when he'd said-"

"But he wasn't!" now Michael was getting protective. "He was a liar and a bully and we all know that now! But what I mean is, I killed an innocent child without even really meaning to. I went too far, believing that he deserved to suffer."

"But you didn't mean to kill him!" Charlie reminded him.

"That doesn't change what happened," Michael argued.

"Perhaps not, but it changed the future," Charlie continued and Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

"Ok, enough with the Oppression Olympics, trying to see which of the three of us is the most evil. You are a good man, Michael," she said. "It is Father who is the villain, and neither you or I are anything like him. We need to put those thoughts behind us now if we want to truly be redeemed and forgive ourselves. You taught me that! You taught me that I have already been forgiven for my sins by everyone... except myself. But now I think you have the same problem. Yeah, it sucks what we did, but we have to forgive ourselves for it or we're going to all go insane again, seeking the forgiveness we already have yet don't believe that we do! You taught me that, Michael. Although I'm still struggling, I'm trying to forgive myself every day and I think it's time you do the same..."

She spoke with a ferocity and wisdom so unlike her, but it finally caught Michael's attention and he began to understand... Sure, he still thought he was guilty for all that he had done and, in some sense, he was. He could never undo his little brother's death. But at the same time, even if he couldn't obtain redemption, he could still at least benefit others in the future! He could never truly escape the past, but he still had time to improve the future (he'd saved Charlie, Henry, Elizabeth and the other five children after all), and as one guilty of past sins, he had an obligation to better the future as best he could, and he couldn't reach his potential as long as he refused to forgive himself.

"Elizabeth is right," Charlie agreed, filling in the silence. "You've done us all a great service and you are no more like William than she is, or I am. We've all messed up, but we've all tried to move past it, fix it and then carry on. Isn't that enough? Would you accuse me of being evil because I killed so many nightguards out of pure anger and vengeance?" she asked.

"No, of course not!" Michael cried.

"Then don't blame yourself for what you did in the past," Charlie replied simply. "Even if you had no reason to do what you did to Scott, it was something you did with the best of intentions, so to speak. You didn't really mean to kill him! Sure, that doesn't excuse or justify what happened or that fact that you'd tormented him for so long to begin with, but you are not William," Charlie had uttered some harsh truths in that little speech, but every word worked its magic and Michael finally began to see why he should forgive himself, not just for his own sake, but for the world's.

"You guys may think that I saved you," he said at last. "But I think you saved me just as much..." he finished. Charlie made a cooing noise while Elizabeth pretended to get offended.

"I doubt that!" she joked.

"Oh no, not more family rivalry over who was the most saved!" Charlie despaired, but she was grinning, and so were Michael and Elizabeth.

 **AN: Sequel to chapter 3. Also, I know that's not how electrical fires work & that Springtrap should've been able to smell whatever flammable liquid Elizabeth had been dousing the tables and floors in, but just go with it. LOL**

 **Also, here you go Lyni Tony! Your "Michael and Elizabeth team up against William" fic! Hope it met your standards, sorry Charlie didn't have a bigger role in it. But like the chapter title states, I feel like this was more of a family rivalry within the Aftons, but at least Charlie had a bit of a role in the closing conversation!**


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